Darkness (1993) (V)

Director:

Leif Jonker

Writer:

Leif Jonker (writer)

Release Date:

18 March 1997 (Spain)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Even the dead will scream.

Plot:

A small community is besieged by vampires. After he watches friends ravaged in a convenience store,...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Chainsaw | Bitten In The Throat | Teenkill | Gore

Cast

Gary Miller	...	Tobe
Michael Gisick	...	Greg
Randall Aviks	...	Liven
Cena Donham	...	Kelly
Steve Brown	...	Jodie
Lisa Franz	...	Dianne
Bill Hooper	...	Glenn
Christopher Owen Michael	...	Steve
Jake Euker	...	John
Veronica Page Dennen	...	Cop
Bob Lower	...	Bob
Jodie Way	...	Customer
Brian Cardwell	...	Vampire
Michael J. Martin	...	Vampire
Ross Boehringer	...	Vampire

Also Known As:

Darkness: The Vampire Version (USA) (reissue title)
Leif Jonker's Darkness (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

Germany:18 | USA:Unrated | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Augusta, Kansas, USA

Company:

13th Dream Entertainment

Quotes:

John: We've got to leave here! He is coming! It's too late! We're already dead!

If nothing else, see this for two things: the amazing chase sequences, and the splatter effects

Sure, the acting left much to be desired. Sure, the `plot' was nothing more than an excuse for Jonker to show off how gory he could make a film. But make no mistake, this guy has talent. For instance, Jonker's excellent filming techniques of people getting chased (and ultimately captured) by vampires were amazing for such an amateur director. My favourite scene (apart from the ending which surpasses the gore level of `Braindead') is the chase scene in the middle of the film where a guy gets chased down by a group of about twenty vampires. This little scene has to be seen to be believed. It's so fast-paced. Plus, the rock song played in the background while the chase was occurring was very rousing, and really gets your adrenaline pumping. Oh, and the lighting wasn't what made the film appear to be so underlit in most scenes; it was the exposure of the film. It seems to be WAY overexposed in most scenes. THAT is why most scenes seem to be so dark. The only main problem I had with `Darkness' was the way that in many of the outside night scenes, the lights from incoming cars from a distance were distracting, and that the film seemed to be too drawn out towards the middle, and at times, a few of the scenes were overlong, but the ending more than compensates for those small downfalls. Believe me, this film isn't for most people (I doubt that even most horror fans would touch this one), but rest assured, if you're a hardcore horror fan who loves gory flicks, this is the bloodiest that they come (which is a GOOD thing to people like myself). I'd take Jonker's `Darkness' over Raimi's `Evil Dead' films any day; at least Jonker has the courage to show carnage that Raimi never could pull off.

My Rating: 8.5 stars out of ten

*Side Note: I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that the creepy syth tune that played throughout the film (most noticeably near the end) was very effective. It had a sad yet forboding feel to it, and it sounded very familiar to a tune that I'm sure I heard somewhere else in an 80's song.